Thursday, January 26, 2017

Chaos In Brazil

What’s up peeps. This week was good a little different but definitely good. So I guess Natal is pretty dangerous right now, I don’t know if you have seen the news yet, but check it out because yes our mission is right in the middle of the “chaos”. So most nights this week we had to end our days early and go home at 6 every night. Normally I would be pretty freaked out. But I have no fear whatsoever because I know God is watching over me and my mission right now. I will tell you more about the week now.

So the lady and 2 cute little girls that we took to church last week, this week she cut us off and told us she doesn’t believe in Joseph Smith and she doesn’t believe in our church. It hurt cause I wanted so bad that her and her 2 little girls to join our church and find true happiness. But I guess not any more. It’s cool, hopefully one day she will realize we got the truth. Her telling me that our church isn’t true only boosted my testimony, I don’t know how but it did. My testimony of Joseph Smith now is out of this world.

Me and my companion this week found 2 awesome ladies to bring to church. One is about 50 and the other is like 95 and blind. Any they wanted all their friends and neighbors to come so we got all the neighbors to commit to going to church because the two ladies we found were super excited and told everyone about our church. It was amazing to see about 2 new investigators actually excited to go to church.

I read this week in the Liahona about praying and getting answers. Because I was having a hard time believing in prayer. So I read it and prayed with real intent after to find a 17-18 year old boy to bring to church and baptize the next week. About 3 hours later our last contact of the day was a 17 year old boy named Eduardo that committed to go to church. At that moment I realized my prayers really do get answered but you just need to seek for an answer, and have faith that your answer will be responded to.

Oh ya, we also helped a family move out and into another house for 2 days straight. I love service! But I am so dang tired, haha. Because on top of moving them out, we still proselyte, teach, study, and do all the same stuff. So it’s tiring but it’s amazing.

Well, this week was great and I can’t wait to see what this next week has in store for me.

Love yall!

Elder Meyer(attached is a news article)

Brazil deploys troops as prison riot spreads, town erupts in violence

NATAL, BRAZIL –Stick-wielding inmates hurled stones and lit fires Thursday in a Brazilian jail where dozens were previously massacred, as authorities struggled to contain a wave of gang violence.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to try to separate two groups of inmates as they fought a pitched battled in the courtyard of the Alcacuz prison, AFP reporters overlooking the facility saw.

Unrest also erupted overnight in the town of Natal near the jail, prompting the government to order the armed forces to deploy to the town.

“The troops will reinforce the patrols in the streets of Natal after the riot in Alcacuz prison,” President Michel Temer’s office said in a statement.

Globonews television channel showed pictures of injured inmates being evacuated from the jail.

Rioting had also broken out overnight in six towns in the state, a spokesman for local authorities told AFP.

Rioters set on fire 21 buses plus other vehicles and seven people were arrested in that unrest, the spokesman said.

One person died and five were hurt during another prisoner uprising in the nearby town of Caico, he said.

On Wednesday, elite officers entered the Alcacuz prison near the northern city of Natal and transferred 220 inmates to another jail.

In the town, groups allied with the imprisoned gang members “attacked buses in revenge for the decision to separate the prisoners,” state governor Robinson Faria said.

“The situation got much worse last night.”

The Alcacuz facility was the scene of gruesome violence between two rival gangs last weekend when 26 inmates were massacred, most of them beheaded.

That was the third major mass killing in a Brazilian prison this year.

So far this year 134 people have been killed in prison violence, according to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, citing justice ministry figures.

Authorities are accused of allowing gangs to run the overcrowded jails.

Defense Minister Raul Jungmann called the situation a “national emergency.”

Brazilian police had stormed the Alcacuz prison early Sunday to halt the bloodbath, but were still not in full control four days later.

Rival groups of prisoners remained loose in the courtyard, sheltering behind barricades of mattresses and furniture.

The prison was built for a maximum of 620 inmates but currently houses 1,083, the state justice department said.

Experts say the violence is part of a war between drug gangs battling for control of one of the world’s most important cocaine markets and trafficking routes.

Brazil shares borders with Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, the world’s three biggest cocaine producers. It is a key route for trafficking the drug to Europe.

At Alcacuz, inmates from the country’s biggest gang, the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command (PCC), faced off against allies of their rivals from the Rio de Janeiro-based Red Command.

The Natal massacre raised fears that the wave of violence could spread across the country—- including to the crime-plagued metropolis of Rio de Janeiro.